updated 2:29 p.m. ET July 10, 2008

PHOENIX - As Roger and Pat Bate hustled to catch a plane home to Houston, they got the dreaded call that many will receive from their airline this year.

There was a problem with the crew, the plane, something — the Continental employee was not sure. The Bates needed to find another way home.

"There were a lot of unhappy faces in line" at the ticket counter, Pat said. "If they told us to come back the next morning, we were not going to be easy to get along with."

It is a call that millions of passengers received as airlines canceled nearly 65,000 flights so far this year. That is almost as many as all of 2007, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and travelers should be ready to be even more flexible as airlines carve chunks out of their schedules later this year.

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines said it will cut as many as 14 percent of available seats on domestic flights by the end of the year. American Airlines will slash as much as 12 percent after the peak summer travel season, and Continental Airlines Inc. will reduce about 11 percent in seating capacity starting in September.

Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. said they are planning similar cuts of 13 percent, 9.5 percent and 8 percent, respectively, by the end of the year.

Airlines hope that by offering fewer travel options they can boost fares and better deal with soaring fuel costs that have overwhelmed the industry. But airline observers say many passengers who bought their tickets months in advance are now going to have to scramble to fit new flights into their plans.

It is unfair, Minneapolis-based airline expert Terry Trippler said. Airlines "are the ones who've underpriced their product for the last two or three years," he said. "You cannot take people's money four and five and six months out, and then one month out say 'it's changed.'"

The capacity cuts also mean that later this year airlines may have less wiggle room to reposition passengers if there are unexpected cancellations.

Kate Hanni, executive director of the Coalition for Airline Passengers Rights, Health and Safety in Napa, Calif., said she's advertising for more volunteers to man a hot line this fall for stranded passengers.

Video   Air travelers getting angry July 9: High ticket prices and more hassle at airports are causing fewer Americans to choose flying for travel. TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to TODAY’s travel editor Peter Greenberg about trouble at the airports. Today show

"We're getting 400 calls a day already," Hanni said. Her hot line, 1-877-flyers-6, helps stranded travelers deal with the airlines.

United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said her airline has a network of spare planes that it can mobilize if maintenance or other problems ground flights. It also staffs a "day of departure" desk that responds to unexpected changes in the schedule.

"We'll know a few hours, or even a day, if a storm is coming," Urbanski said. "They'll stop selling tickets on the flights to keep some seats open in case they need to reschedule."

In general, airlines try to accommodate bumped passengers with compatible schedules and will offer refunds if necessary.

"That's what happens in theory," Trippler said. "When something happens, a computer automatically reroutes the people." The airline says, "Take it or leave it, and that's it, or we'll give you your money back," he said.

"That doesn't work very well when you bought a ticket for $298 and now the reroute doesn't work for you at all, and now it's going to cost you $598 to buy a ticket through another airline because you're now that much closer to departure time," he said.

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